Alarm clocks are the bane of most working people. Most work on the principle that when a set alarm time is reached, an alarm or music sounds. Manufacturers try to make the alarms so annoying that they cannot be ignored. Once the stop button is depressed, the alarm/music immediately discontinues.
Some alarm clocks are equipped with the ever-popular "snooze" button, depression of which also immediately shuts off the alarm allowing one to "snooze" a few more minutes until the alarm sounds again. Unfortunately, depression of the snooze button becomes so automatic and repetitive that the original set alarm time becomes meaningless. People also can become so accustomed to the alarm/music that they sleep through it. As a result, appointments, deadlines, and schedules are often missed.
The present invention provides an alternative alarm clock including a moving object which travels along a track to a destination when a set alarm time is reached, and wherein this motion is accompanied by a distinctive sound correlated with the moving object. This distinctive sound is sustained over a period of time until the moving object has reached its destination, at which time a normal clock alarm is activated.